Lara Vapnyar follows the intertwined lives of four immigrants in New York City as they grapple with love and tumult, the challenges of a new home, and the absurdities of the digital age. One of these immigrants is Sergey, who cycles through jobs as an analyst, hoping his idea for an app will finally bring him success. As he develops "Virtual Grave," a program to preserve a person's online presence after death, a formidable debate begins among his friends, spurring questions about the changing perception of death in the modern world and the future of our virtual selves. How do our online personas define us in our daily lives, and what will they say about us when we're gone?